Locked out, soil conservationists work out of their trucks

The federal shutdown has lots of impacts big and small, and it has caused at least one stalwart soil and water conservation employee to rely on his truck as a rolling office.

Tom Sanford, a district manager for the Rensselaer County Soil & Water Conservation District found himself, with other District employees, locked out of their offices in downtown Troy earlier this week, since they share space with the federal USDA.

“The place is dark,” he said, adding they initially didn’t know what to do. Eventually, Sanford said he simply starting making his rounds — SWCD people spend a fair amount of time at farms and inspecting water supplies — using his truck as a makeshift office.

Here’s a release they put out:

The Rensselaer County Soil & Water Conservation District will remain open in spite of being locked out of the office which they shared with the Natural Resources Conservation Services said District Directors Ken Herrington and Thomas Walsh. The Natural Resources Conservation Service’s office located in the Rensselaer County Government Building was locked and barred, due to lack of a Congressional Budget, as is the Farm Service Agency in the same building.

The District, which was forced to move to adjacent quarters will continue to work on Conservation projects throughout Rensselaer County alone, until the NRCS people return. Anyone wanting to reach the District should call 423-8391 as the regular phones have been shut down leaving only an answering machine.

District Manager Tom Sanford said, “This Federal Shutdown is a real problem. I hope that it doesn’t last too long, so I can get back into the office instead of working out of my District truck”.